The monument to Revolutionary War hero Hezekiah Maham is hidden by trees and undergrowth in the old Maham Plantation in Pineville.
Editor’s Note: At the request of his readers and in memory of Warner M. Montgomery, Ph. D, we will continue to publish his Adventure Travel stories for the time being.
Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have. —Benjamin Franklin Cemeteries are records of the past. Gravestones are expressions of love and affection engraved in history.
In Pineville, there are graves of three influential people from the past: Gen. Francis Marion, Col. Hezekiah Maham, and biologist Thomas Walter.
Col. Hezekiah Maham
Col. Hezekiah Maham was the Revolutionary War hero of the Battle of Fort Watson. He was born in St. Stephen’s Parish in 1739 and became a successful planter by 1772. He was elected to the first Provincial congress of South Carolina.
In 1776, Maham was elected a captain in the first rifle regiment under Colonel Isaac Huger and served during the siege of Savannah. He was then made a commander of horse in General Francis Marion’s brigade.
On April 1781, General Francis Marion and Lt. Col. Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee surrounded Fort Watson, a British control point on the Santee River and the road between Charleston and Camden. After eight days of small arms fire, they were unable to roust the British from the fort on a 30-foot-tall Indian mound. Maham suggested the erection of a wooden tower to overlook the British stockade.
Maham’s Tower was completed during the night, and the next morning Marion’s marksmen shot down on the British who quickly surrendered. This was the first post in S.C. retaken from the British. A similar version of Maham’s Tower was used by the patriots at Augusta and Ninety Six.
Maham became a cavalry lieutenant colonel and continued to harass the British until he became ill and retired to his home. He was captured by the British and paroled.
After the war, Maham was elected to the S.C. General Assembly as a representative then senator. He married twice, Anne Guerin then Mary Palmer, and had two daughters. He died in 1789.
A monument was erected in 1845 next to his grave in the cemetery near his home. The Maham cemetery is between S.C. Highway 45 and the Santee River, hidden by trees and covered with undergrowth. The property, once known as Maham Plantation, is now owned by an absentee landlord from Chicago. Portions of the land are leased to local citizens as farmland.
The epitaph on the Maham monument states:
“Within this Cemetery, and in the bosom of the Homestead, which he cultivated and embellished, while on Earth, lie the mortal remains of Col. Hezekiah Maham. He was born in the Parish of St. Stephen, and died A. D. 1789, at 50 years; leaving a name, unsullied in social and domestic life, and eminent for devotion to the liberties of his country, and for achievements in arms, in the Revolution which established her Independence. Impelled by the spirit of freedom which animated his countrymen, he zealously and courageously devoted himself to its support, and promoted the cause of American Independence, by his services in the State Committees, instituted by recommendation of the General Congress, in the Jacksonborough Assembly, and in various other civil capacities. Successively a captain in the first rifle regiment, a commander of horse, in Marion’s brigade, and lieutenant colonel of an independent corps of cavalry, raised by authority of General Greene, he bore an efficient and conspicuous part in the capture of the British posts, and in the series of skilful maneuvers and gallant actions, which resulted in the final extinction of the British dominion in South Carolina, and secured to her and to the Confederacy the blessings of Peace, Liberty, and Independence. His relative, Joshua John Ward, of Waccamaw, unwilling that the last abode of an honest man, a faithful patriot, and a brave and successful soldier, should be forgotten and unknown, has erected this memorial, A. D., 1845.” South Carolina law protects cemeteries, burial grounds, and graves. The remains of a deceased human being cannot be destroyed, damaged, desecrated, or removed without legal authority. It is illegal to deface, vandalize, injure, or remove a gravestone.
An effort is currently underway by citizens of Pineville and ancestors of Hezekiah Maham to clean up and protect the cemetery. The monument is a true historical artifact that should be preserved and made available to the public.
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